How To Grow Moonflower

As the name suggests, moonflowers represent nocturnal bloomers. After all your dayflowers have withered it in the evening, a moonflower will blossom and keep your garden beautiful and fragrant even at night. In addition, it proves to be one of the best options for the night strollers. Moonflower vines, with their pure big white flowers and heart shaped dark green leaves, are indeed a splendid addition to any garden. They are the cousin of morning glories. If you like morning glories to salute you in the morning, you would love it when your moonflower beacons you in the evening. What could be grander than the display of beautiful white sweet-smelling flowers on a moonlit night? Their sweet fragrance only serves to be an additional advantage. Moonflowers are quite hardy, creating no fuss at all, which means that you will not have to work too hard for growing them in your garden. Now, if you are tempted to have them in your garden, check out the directions provided below and know how to grow moonflower.

Growing Moonflower Vines

Choose a site that gets full sun and sow the seeds after all the dangers of frost have passed. You can sow the seeds in fall to early spring. You can grow the flowers indoors too, in a warm and lighted area. However, a better option is to plant them directly into the soil, as they don’t respond well to transplantation. Buy the seeds from a reputed nursery, soak them overnight in warm water, and then plant them at a suitable place.
If you want your moonflowers to grow well, plant them in a place where they get a minimum six hours of sunlight. Also, the soil should be well aerated. Moonflowers will thrive in average to rich soil and will not need much tending as well.
You don’t have to fertilize the soil before planting moonflowers. Plant them directly into the soil. Sow them two to three centimeters deep, in well-loamed soil and distance them thirty centimeters apart. Moonflower vines are quite hardy and require medium amount of water.
You can provide moonflower with diluted fertilizer, to keep it thriving better. It’s an evergreen plant and can grow up to a height of fifteen feet. However, it belongs to vine family and thus, you will need to provide it with a support. Moonflower plants are quite lightweight and will be happy with a portable trellis as well.
You need to provide support to the moonflower plants after they have reached s height of one or two inches. All you need to do is to gently twine them around the support, with the help of fingers. Keep checking them every few days, to readdress if necessary.
Keep the soil moist, especially if you don’t have loam type soil. You can also mulch them for better effect and keep the weeds away. Thin or space the plant to keep it from over growing.

Tip

The best place for growing moonflower is near your porch or anywhere you sit during nighttime or take a night stroll. However, if you have children, keep the vines well away from their reach, as their seeds are poisonous.

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